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[1/3] Members of WWF protest during COP15, the two-week U.N. Biodiversity summit, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada December 7, 2022. REUTERS/Christinne MuschiMONTREAL, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Climate campaigners waved placards and chanted pro-nature slogans on Wednesday as a U.N. summit kicks off in Montreal, bringing together global negotiators for a "once-in-a-decade opportunity" to protect nature. Negotiators hope the two-week event delivers an agreement that ensures there is more "nature" — animals, plants, and healthy ecosystems — in 2030 than what exists now. Global Land Outlook assessment. ($1 = 1.3651 Canadian dollars)Read more:Businesses want COP15 nature summit to deliver clarityU.N. chief urges strong global nature deal to end 'orgy of destruction'Reporting by Allison Lampert and Gloria Dickie in Montreal; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Rebecca Naden/File PhotoMONTREAL, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Countries are gathering Tuesday for a key U.N. nature conference in Montreal, aiming to broker a new global agreement to protect what's left of Earth's wildlife and natural spaces. Global Land Outlook assessment. Like many other campaigners, Zabey called for "an ambitious, clear and enforceable international agreement" similar to the Paris Agreement on climate change. Unlike the U.N. climate talks, Montreal's summit will see few world leaders, which negotiators say could make it tougher to reach an ambitious agreement. Meanwhile, Montreal police have put up a 3-meter (10-foot) fence around the downtown summit venue, Palais des congrès, and are preparing for thousands of student protesters expected to swarm the Montreal's streets to demand a strong deal to protect nature.

☆ Explainer: What's on the agenda at the U.N.'s COP15 nature summit?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

MONTREAL, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A key United Nations summit to halt nature loss begins this week in Montreal, Canada. China's COP15 summit has been delayed four times, however, from its original date in 2020 due to COVID. The world's last set of nature targets - the Aichi Targets - expired in 2020. To protect nature, countries will need cash - a lot of it. Environmental groups argue that rich nations should provide at least $60 billion per year to help developing countries meet their nature targets.

And Wagner’s beloved fireflies – like so many insects worldwide – have largely vanished in what scientists are calling the global Insect Apocalypse. “Insects are the food that make all the birds and make all the fish,” said Wagner, who works at the University of Connecticut. Humans, too, see some 2,000 species of insects as food. “We’d see yields dropping of all of these crops.”And in nature, about 80% of wild plants rely on insects for pollination. WINNERS AND LOSERSWhile the situation is bleak for insects at large, a few types of insects are thriving.

☆ Europe's heatwave may have caused more than 20,000 'excess' deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Juliette Portala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Higher-than-expected excess deaths from Europe's heatwaveMany deaths due to high temperature may be under-reportedHeatwaves to become more frequent and intense in futureNov 24 (Reuters) - Summer heatwaves in France, Germany, Spain and Britain led to more than 20,000 "excess" deaths, a report compiling official figures said on Thursday. A heatwave in 2003 caused more than 70,000 excess deaths across Europe, largely in France, and led many countries to implement measures such as early warning systems, asking people to check on others and opening air-conditioned schools. France reported about half of the summer's excess deaths in Western Europe, with 10,420 fatalities in total. Excess deaths reached 3,271 in England and Wales during the summer, Britain's Office of National Statistics reported. Spain recorded 4,655 heat-attributable deaths between June and August while the German health agency reported 4,500.

☆ Analysis: COP27 does little for next month's global agenda: nature loss
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Many environment ministers and campaigners have said the climate talks should underline the importance of protecting nature to help to limit climate change. The "landmark" target of the draft Montreal deal proposes protecting 30% of the world's land and sea by 2030 - known informally as 30-by-30. The world's wildlife crisis is largely driven by habitat loss, with wild spaces turned into agricultural fields and cities, or degraded by pollution. But climate change poses an increasing threat as temperatures climb, pushing species out of their comfortable ranges. It encouraged parties to "consider, as appropriate, nature-based solutions or ecosystem-based approaches" to climate change.

[1/5] A general view of the entrance to the Sharm El-Sheikh International Convention Centre grounds, during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 19, 2022. Kunal Satyarthi, a negotiator for India, said he thought the loss and damage deal would "certainly" pass, and thanked other countries for their flexibility. Norway's climate minister, Espen Barth Eide, meanwhile, said his country was happy with the agreement to create a loss and damage fund. But the possible breakthrough on loss and damage was significant, and "I don't think that should be lost in the mix," he said. For daily comprehensive coverage on COP27 in your inbox, sign up for the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter here.

[1/3] Egyptian Foreign Minister and Egypt's COP27 President Sameh Shoukry attends an informal stocktaking session during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 18, 2022. But with several other sticking points dogging this year's U.N. climate talks, host country Egypt said a final deal was still not expected before the weekend. But it was unclear Friday if all of those countries would accept the EU's offer of a fund to aid only "the most vulnerable countries", rather than all developing countries as they had requested. On Friday morning, the U.N. climate agency published a first official draft of the final summit deal. Some countries, including the EU and Britain, have pushed for the overall deal in Egypt to lock in country commitments for more ambitious climate action.

[1/5] Climate activists take part in a protest during the COP27 climate summit, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 16, 2022. "There's still a lot of gaps in the texts," said a spokesperson for Britain's COP26 Presidency, which hosted last year's climate summit in Glasgow. EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said the first draft left a lot to be desired. TEMPERATURE TARGETOn limiting the global temperature rise, the document mirrors language included in last year's COP26 agreement. Temperatures have already increased by 1.1C, and are projected to blow past 1.5C without swift and deep cuts to emissions within this decade.

☆ COP27: Children from Global South make their presence felt at climate summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/5] Licypriya Kangujam, 11, environmentalist and climate activist, founder of The Child Movement, speaks to Reuters during an interview at the COP27 climate summit in Red Sea resort at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 15, 2022. Among the throngs of men and women in business attire at the COP27 United Nations climate summit in Egypt this week are children who have traveled from around the world to demand adult leaders take action to protect their futures. They may be small, but their voices have been some of the loudest in the climate action movement. Her involvement follows prominent youth activist Greta Thunberg, now 19, who led school strikes in Sweden to demand action. Organisers of the summit say children have been given greater importance, with a designated youth envoy and a pavilion for children and youth at the conference.

☆ COP27 climate talks seen as key to success at next month's U.N. nature summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Climate change is one of the big drivers of biodiversity loss," said David Cooper, the deputy chief of U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity. "If we don't have successful outcomes in the climate process, then we cannot halt biodiversity loss," Cooper said. "You cannot have a dream of coping with climate change only through the emissions," Virginijus Sinkevičiu, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, told Reuters. "If ecosystems are not able to cope, you don't have a success story" in fighting climate change. President Xi Jinping has not attended the climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh and is also not expected to attend COP15.

☆ COP27:Brazil's Lula says Amazon rainforest vital to global climate security
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said climate change will have the highest profile in his government, and that he will prioritize efforts to fight deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. "There is no climate security for the world without a protected Amazon," said Lula in a speech at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt. "We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and the degradation of our biomes." Lula said he believed the struggle against global warming was also inseparable from the struggle against poverty. Reporting by Jake Spring, William James and Gloria Dickie; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ COP27: Cities with net zero promises falling short on tracking, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 15 (Reuters) - More than half of cities with pledges to reach net zero emissions have no plan for how they'll track and report progress, an analysis published Tuesday said. A United Nations high-level expert group last week issued guidelines for how to avoid greenwashing on net-zero pledges. "Over half of cities with net zero pledges currently have no form of reporting mechanism." The expert group recommended non-state actors include interim goals ahead of achieving their net zero targets, which are typically set for 2050. The Net Zero Tracker analysis found just 10% of cities and 20% of companies currently include interim targets - though this number has grown slightly since 2021.

☆ Climate justice gets harder as world population passes 8 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

These are also among the countries most vulnerable to climate impacts, and most in need of climate finance. "A SIGN OF HUMAN SUCCESS"Globally, the 8 billion population milestone represents 1 billion people added to the planet in just the last 11 years. Even while the global population reaches ever-new highs, demographers note that the growth rate has fallen steadily to less than 1% per year. "A big part of this story is that this era of rapid population growth that the world has known for centuries is coming to an end," Wilmoth said. Rapid population growth combined with climate change is likely to cause mass migration and conflict in coming decades, experts said.

The failure by rich nations to deliver in full on a past pledge to deliver $100 billion in annual climate finance to developing countries has rankled in recent years of climate talks. "We cannot afford a further erosion of trust between the developed and developing countries," said Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa. The burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of climate change, but coal, gas and oil were notably absent in the draft deal. The draft COP27 text did not hint at which route the final deal will take on this issue. "We cannot lose 1.5 at this COP," said Alok Sharma, president of last year's U.N. climate summit, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland.

☆ Climate disasters put plight of displaced in COP27 focus
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There are some 22 million people like Hassan displaced every year in climate-fueled disasters, according to the U.N. International Organization for Migration (IOM). And with climate change fueling increasingly extreme weather worldwide, the number displaced is expected to grow to about 143 million by mid-century. Given the growing need, developing countries at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt this month are demanding that wealthy nations offer more in the way of help. "Each government impacted by climate change migrants can raise the subject" at the U.N. summit, said Caroline Dumas, the IOM's special envoy for migration and climate action. "I'm a refugee, former refugee," said Emtithal Mahmoud, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

For more than 70 days this summer, a marine heatwave cooked the waters of the western Mediterranean. "We've been witnessing marine heatwaves during the last 20 years," said Garrabou, who's also coordinator of the T-MEDNet marine monitoring network. A 2016 marine heatwave along Chile's southern coast caused huge algae blooms that wiped out fish farms and cost the aquaculture industry some $800 million, said scientist Kathryn Smith with the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. As the world warms, marine heatwaves are expected to become more frequent, according to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Though economists have yet to account fully for the impacts of marine heatwaves, recent experience has many concerned.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 9, (Reuters) - Civil society groups and youth activists at the U.N. COP27 summit held small pop-up rallies Wednesday at designated areas in this Red Sea resort town. At yet another small gathering, about 20 protesters demanded an end to fossil fuel use, chanting: "What do we want? Climate justice ... when do we want it? Youth activist Lucky Abeng of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance said the group wanted world leaders to take the financing agenda seriously. "Adaptation financing and also climate financing for Africa, it’s nonnegotiable," he said.

☆ Explainer: COP27: How climate change impacts countries around the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 9 (Reuters) - While delegates at the COP27 climate conference discuss the shared problem of climate change, each country will face its own challenges and threats. In February, the U.N. climate science agency released a major report on adapting to a warmer world - and detailed how that effort would differ from place to place. While some countries see glaciers melt or coastlines rise, others will contend mostly with raging wildfires and extreme heat, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. A World Bank report warned in September that climate impacts, including water scarcity and declining crop yields, could force some 216 million to migrate within their own countries by 2050. And in the Arctic, melting sea ice, warming temperatures, and thawing permafrost will push many species to the brink of extinction.

[1/4] China's chief climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua speaks during a news conference at the COP27 climate summit in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El GhanySHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 9 (Reuters) - China would be willing to contribute to a mechanism for compensating poorer countries for losses and damage caused by climate change, its climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said on Wednesday at the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt. Xie said China had no obligation to participate, but stressed his solidarity with those calling for more action from wealthy nations on the issue, and outlined the damage China had suffered from climate-linked weather extremes. He added that China already contributed billions of yuan to developing countries to help with their mitigation efforts. "The door is absolutely closed by (the United States)," he said.

☆ UN experts at COP27: Corporate climate pledges rife with greenwashing
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and others attend the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt November 7, 2022. At last year's climate negotiations in Glasgow, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed 17 experts to review the integrity of non-state net zero commitments amid concerns about "a surplus of confusion and deficit of credibility" involving corporate green boasting. "Bogus net zero claims drive up the cost that ultimately everyone will pay," she said. An estimated 80% of global emissions are now covered by pledges that commit to reaching net zero emissions. For example, a company cannot claim to be net zero if it continues to build or invest in new fossil fuel infrastructure or deforestation.

"There can be no effective climate policy without the peace," he said, highlighting the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on global energy supplies, food prices and Ukraine's forests. Ukraine is hosting an exhibition space this year for the first time at a U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. He criticised world leaders for paying lip service to climate change without delivering real change. "There are still many for whom climate change is just rhetoric or marketing ... but not real action," he said. A GREENER FUTUREMembers of Ukraine's delegation to COP27 said they hoped their presence drew global attention to the climate and environmental consequences of Russia's February invasion.

☆ COP27: Loss of Arctic summer sea ice 'inevitable' within 30 years — report
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The newest report's authors highlighted the "terminal diagnosis" for the ice that forms and floats atop the Arctic Ocean each summer. On Monday evening, Arctic campaigners and indigenous youth from the region planned a media event to mark the demise of sea ice. Mallett said COP27 talks would do little to save the summer sea ice. Last year, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said summer sea ice would be lost even if warming peaked at 1.6 degrees above the preindustrial average. If summer sea ice is lost, no multiyear sea ice — sea ice that persists in the ocean from year to year — will remain.

☆ COP27 summit to begin with plea to discuss climate compensation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Gloria Dickie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The U.N. climate summit, COP27, opens in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt on Sunday amid growing calls for rich countries to compensate poorer nations most vulnerable to climate change. Much of the tension surrounding COP27 is expected to relate to loss and damage -- compensation funds provided by wealthy nations to vulnerable lower-income countries that bear little responsibility for climate-warming emissions. Diplomats from more than 130 countries are expected to push for the creation of a dedicated loss and damage finance facility at COP27. "I'm hopeful that it will get on the agenda," Matthew Samuda, a minister in Jamaica's economic growth ministry, told Reuters. "We know the Europeans are supporting us," said Saleemul Huq, director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development.

☆ COP27 to formally discuss climate compensation for poorer nations
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 6 (Reuters) - COP27 delegates agreed on Sunday to discuss whether rich countries should compensate poorer nations most vulnerable to climate change at the United Nations climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Diplomats approved a much-disputed agenda item to talk about matters relating to "funding arrangements responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including a focus on addressing loss and damage." The conference runs from Nov. 6 through Nov. 18. Reporting by Gloria Dickie, editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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